Surly They Won't Make It

25/5/25

We ate our breakfast earlier. Jonathan cooked up a storm. Kale and tomato seasoned with garlic and chilli. On baguette, topped with sliced mango and mint leaves. We didn’t have long to get ready afterwards. We were meeting Seb at the mausoleum. Jonathan had a stormy belly. 

We were late, but so was Seb. The entrance was miles away. We were pushed to walk further and further by the guards to find the entrance. When we finally located it, we had to wait for Seb. He’d chosen to wear his exceedingly slippery sandals. Yet again. He was waddling along the street like a penguin to avoid falling over. We could have slapped him.

It was Sunday and there was the expected commensurate queue. There was no charge and we went through security before joining the line. The people were 99.9% Vietnamese. This was an important destination for them all it seemed. We moved quickly. It had been honed down to a tee. There was a rain shelter for the entire length. Guards observed to ensure impeccable social etiquette.

As we got closer everyone was to walk in two perfect lines. We were in the large expanse in front of the mausoleum. This time the doors were open. Bayonet equipped rifles held by the solemn faced soldiers. Surely they questioned the worthwhileness of their roles?

We walked up the stairs, monitored intently by both men and cctv. Then entered the darkened and cool casket room. Our line had the inside track and the best view. Four guards stood around the casket staring straight ahead. Three more staring intently at the visitors. No photographs were allowed. Jonathan was instructed to remove his hand from his pocket. His intention to take a sneaky picture thwarted.

The body lay in the expected pose. Hands on his chest, indentation marks perfectly symmetrical. We never stopped moving. The whole thing lasted perhaps 30 seconds. It was hard to focus intently on any part of the body long enough to make any firm impressions about its authenticity. It seemed a little too perfect. Apparently he is sent to Russia every year for “maintenance”. It seems very unlikely that the preservation could result in such an unblemished figure. It was probable there was some degree of wax supplementation.

After successfully seeing the body that Ho Chi Minh wanted to be cremated, we followed the people to his old stilt house. Except we weren’t allowed without a ticket, Vietnamese people were though. We refused to take part in their objective of making us different. It was such a cheap ticket there seemed to be no other purpose. Instead we headed to the One Pillar Pagoda. There we got into conversation with a group of students. An odd field trip. And we don’t just mean the fact it was a Sunday. They kept conferring, evidently trying to recall the different phrases they’d learnt in lessons. The usual questions about ourselves followed. It was a funny interaction. They were all very polite and respectful.

Our next and final attraction was the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long. Sadly, most of the buildings were destroyed by the French. They needed room for barracks or something. Only the North Gate and Flag Tower remain original. Other buildings have been significantly reconstructed. There were some archaeological sites, especially ‘18 Hoàng Diệu Street’ across the road. It was a poor show. There was no information. Everything was covered up. We were the only visitors. We did enjoy viewing a wide selection of Bonsai trees.

It was early enough in the day that we could head to one of the many vegan buffets in Hà Nội. We chose Veggie Castle. It was 20 minutes away. For 100k each we could eat as much as we liked. There was food assortment of food. Many cooked dishes, vegetables and salads. Even dessert. We arrived at 1:30pm and the lunch serving finished an hour later. Or so we thought. Luckily, we’d essentially finished eating. The woman started badgering us to leave just after 2pm. Not only that there were several young children working. It made us feel very uncomfortable. They were lugging around heavy baskets of cutlery. We managed to get some dessert before leaving.

We walked back to the airbnb. A game of Wizard was in our minds. It was a nice cool day to sit outside. We had a mug of green tea. Watched people using the exercise park and played Wizard for what must have been 3 or 4 hours. It was such a long game as the size of our hands increased from one to twenty. Jonathan had an early lead but Sebastian easily clawed his way back to win. 

When mosquito time arrived we retreated inside to finish off the game. Then we talked about social issues for a while. It was to be our last time seeing Seb. In this part of the world, that was for sure. He was flying to Bangkok the next day. We bid him a fond farewell. We’d really appreciated his company. It had felt like we’d been stuck in a rut. His subtle German charm had boosted our spirits and helped us explore Hà Nội. We hoped we’d see him, and Johanna – who had returned home early – again.

We made a snack. Baguette with fried banana and peanuts. Then went to bed shortly afterwards. We weren’t sure what was on the cards in the days to come. Hopefully a parcel would appear soon.